Her Paper Heart
by nejiandtentenfan
Summary: Sakura's heart had been ripped for so many years when Sasuke left. What happens when Kakashi suggests they celebrate his birthday? How will Sakura react and what surprises will she find? [SasuSaku] [Oneshot]


**A/N: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy!**

---

Her Paper Heart

Sakura sighed loudly, unbelieving of the impossible ideas that spilled out of Kakashi Sensei's masked mouth. Naruto, who had matured over the years, also rolled his eyes at his porn-obsessed Sensei.

"It _is _the 23rd of July…" Kakashi tried to reason.

The shinobi in his signature bright yellow jumpsuit was losing his patience. Kakashi should've known better than to suggest something like this. Even _Sakura _wasn't thinking about doing anything of the sort.

"And shouldn't we try to honor Team 7? Even if Sasuke isn't here?" Kakashi just wouldn't give up.

Sakura twitched a bit when she heard the name of the man she had been infatuated with for so many years. The man that crushed her heart 3 years ago. The Uchiha she was trying to forget about.

Seeing Sakura's uncomfort, Naruto scowled and yelled loudly at his Sensei, "Kakashi Sensei! You know better than to just talk about Sasuke as if nothing had happened!"

Kakashi knew very well that Sakura's heart was ripping into two as if it were made of paper. She had a continuous inner struggle of forgetting Sasuke. She wanted to, but she couldn't bring herself to do so.

She remembered that day…that day that he absolutely smashed her heart into a million pieces.

_FLASHBACK _

_She had known so little about Orochimaru and the cursed mark on Sasuke's neck that had been causing him pain. But she knew it was something to be worried about. It was the only thing her mind could think of. She had gone to the park where she had talked to Sasuke once before and found just what she had expected. He was about to leave them all. Everything that they had gone through together…he was just walking away from it. _

_A tear fell from Sakura's eye as Sasuke was now walking past her. _

_"Why?" She paused, as if Sasuke would give her some response. He didn't. He just kept walking. This prodded her to continue. _

_The girl turned around and raised her voice, tears now streaming out of both eyes, "Why won't you tell me anything? Why do you always stay silent? Why don't you say anything to me?" _

_Sasuke stopped and raised his voice, refusing to turn around to face the sobbing kunoichi, "Why do I have to tell you anything?" _

_Tears continued to steam down both sides of her face while she couldn't think of a response. _

_"It's none of your business. Stop concerning yourself with what I do," Sasuke ordered firmly, back still facing Sakura. _

_Sakura looked at the ground before forcing a small smile, "You've…always hated me, huh? Do you remember the day we became Genin and when our three-member team was first chosen? The day you and I were here alone, you got mad at me, remember?" _

_The small memory played in Sakura's head of when Sasuke finally told her how painful solitude was. How he told her she was annoying. _

_"I don't remember," Sasuke grunted. _

_Sakura's slight smile broke and she looked down at the ground again, allowing a tear to fall from her eye to the ground. _

_She tried to laugh a bit, "Makes sense. That's something that happened a while back. But that's the day when everything started…you and I…" she started smiling a bit, trying to keep herself cheerful even though her heart was breaking. She continued to conjure up precious memories of Team 7, "And also Naruto and Kakashi Sensei. The four of us completed a number of missions together. They were tough and a lot of work, but…above all…" _

_The girl paused. She smiled as far as she could bear. Her voice was about to crack with sadness, "It was fun!" _

_Her smile faded a bit when Sasuke didn't respond. She lowered her head before trying to convince him again, "I know about your clan, but revenge…That won't make anyone happy. No one. Neither you…nor I." _

_"Just as I thought," Sasuke finally spoke calmly. _

_This caught Sakura's attention as she turned her head more to look at Sasuke. _

_He continued, "I'm different from you guys. I walk a different path than you guys. I tried to think that it was my path to do the things we've done up until now. The four of us did things together, but my heart decided on revenge in the end. That's my purpose in life. I can't be like you or Naruto." His brow furrowed. _

_Sakura yelled, "Are you going to choose to be alone again?! On that day, you taught me that solitude is painful! I understand that so well now!" A few more tears dropped on the ground, "I have a family and I have friends, but if you're gone…" she took a small step forward, "To me…it'll be the same as being alone!" _

_She put her hands over her chest and sobbed to herself. _

_An image of Team 7 flashed through Sasuke's head before he continued to speak calmly, "From her on...a new path will open for all of us."_

_Sakura couldn't take it anymore. She closed her eyes and screamed with all that her soul was worth at him, tears continuously streaming down her face, "I love you so much! If you stay with me, I'll make sure you don't regret it! Every day will be fun. We'll definitely be happy. I'll do anything for you. So...Please! Stay here! I'll help you with your revenge. I'll do something!"_

_Sakura's voice cracked as she pleaded, "So please stay here...with me!" Sakura paused as she made another offer through her heavy sobbing, "If you can't stay...take me with you."_

_Sasuke turned his head toward her, a smirk on his face, "You really **are **annoying."_

_This did it. This ripped Sakura's heart into two, just as if it was made out of paper._

_Sasuke turned back around and started walking._

_Sakura couldn't let the Uchiha leave. She ran forward a bit and screamed, "Don't leave! If you do, I'll scream!"_

_And with those words, the Uchiha, in a flash, appeared behind her back. They stood there for several moments, not talking, not pleading, just standing. Waiting for the leaves to fall from their trees on this night of a full moon. "Sakura..." Sasuke's deep voice came from behind her back. She could feel some of his warm breath on the nape of her neck, the warmth piercing the cold of the night. She stood still, not knowing if she had gotten through to him._

_"Arigato," was the last word she heard from Sasuke before he punched her hard in the back, causing her to unconciously fall into his arms, where he then carried her to lay on the bench without any last words or kisses of goodbye._

_Sakura's only parting word was the name she whispered as she fell back into his arms, "Sasuke-kun."_

_END OF FLASHBACK_

The girl clenched her fists and whispered that name she had been so intrigued with when she was a Genin, "Sasuke-kun..."

Kakashi Sensei furrowed his brow before asking again, "So...what do you guys say?"

Sakura frowned deeply, "Kakashi Sensei! How can you even think of something like this!" Sakura bit her lower lip before yelling painfully, "He's not coming back!"

With that, she ran back to her home, which was only a couple miles away.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called after her.

"Forget it, Naruto. You can't stop her now," Kakashi reasoned.

Naruto tilted his head and looked at his Sensei, "How can you say that? You're the one that upset her!"

Kakashi sighed, "Sometimes I miss the days when Sasuke was still with us."

Naruto didn't speak aloud, but he completely agreed, if not more, in his heart. He too, missed his old comrade.

---

As soon as the female medical ninja was positive her hyperactive teammate wasn't going to attempt to chase her, she slowed down to a walking pace. It wasn't every day she got to be alone and away from Naruto and Kakashi Sensei or Tsunade-sama. She loved all of them dearly and kept them close to her heart, but right now at this moment in time, she just needed some downtime to reprioritize the thoughts in her heart. She needed to make a clear decision as to what she was going to do with the old bond she had formed with Sasuke. Was she going to rip that old thing out of her heart? Was it even possible to remove that man from her life? What would happen if she just left him there? Would forgetting him just bring her more pain and tears? She did not know the answer to any of these questions, but she had to do something about the memories she always tried to avoid.

She abruptly stopped in the middle of the lonely street sprinkled with cherry blossom petals.

Sakura lowered her head, allowing her pink bangs to fall over her eyes.

She needed an outlet, not just her own house. She wanted more. A place she could console herself.

The girl immediately changed directions and sprinted to one place she had always read about, but had never been before. The territory of the Uchiha clan. She had read in one of Tsunade-sama's many textbooks that it had still not been destroyed and rebuilt for improvement. Many say there was too much history there. The Uchiha clan was one of the strongest clans out there with extraordinary bloodline limits. There were also only 2 Uchihas that survived – Sasuke, and his brother that killed the whole clan, Itatchi. To destroy the territory of the Uchiha clan would be a crime, forgetting one of the greatest clans that ever lived. But even if Tsunade-sama didn't give out an order to reconstruct that area, it would probably fall apart on its own anyway after Itatchi was through with it.

Sakura had read enough textbooks to know how to get to the Uchiha's territory from her house. She sprinted with all her might, if she kept going at this rate, it may only take her about 20 minutes to get there.

She wanted to know more about Sasuke's past that he had never revealed to her. She wanted to know what the place he grew up in was like. She yearned to remember the teammate she loved that left her.

---

There was a long pause between Naruto and Kakashi Sensei. Both of their hearts coated with an icy feel thinking of Sasuke.

"So…are we doing the party or not?" Kakashi continued.

Naruto's jaw almost dropped in disbelief, "Kakashi Sensei! I can't believe you!"

"It's July 23rd, the unmistaken birthday of Uchiha Sasuke!" Kakashi persisted.

Naruto raised his voice, "What does Uchiha Sasuke have to do with us?! He doesn't even care about us!"

"But we should still honor him as someone who was at least once a member of Team 7," Kakashi said dead seriously.

Naruto sighed, he somewhat understood Kakashi Sensei's point, "Ok…what do you have planned…?"

---

Sakura's shoulder's slouched a bit as she haulted to a stop, panting for breath. She was finally at the entrance. The sign that said in capital letters, 'Uchiha Clan,' had half fallen off its post and was covered in a thick layer of dust and dirt. Sakura had to turn her head sideways to read it clearly. The girl took a few steps into the territory and gasped. The town altogether was in bad condition, but other than that she was amazed at the wonderful buildings in there. The police house she had read about, the one she read Sasuke's dad worked in, was still huge and had the same symbol on it as the one Sasuke had worn on the back of his shirt. She walked deeper into the territory, trying to ignore the many skeletons that laid on porches of broken houses.

She had read that Sasuke's family was especially well known for having Itatchi as a prodigy, and they were pretty wealthy. She wanted to look for some kind of sign of which house might have been the one Sasuke lived in.

She walked along the dirt, looking left and right cautiously, comparing sizes of houses. She expected Sasuke's to have been bigger than the average house. But every house looked about the same size and the same dull faded gray. She stopped in her tracks when she looked straight ahead to her right, there was a large beautiful house, old, but elegant. There were still traces of bamboo stalks in the front yard, the front of the house was protected by a concrete wall.

The girl ran up to the entrance and opened the almost broken gate. Her eyes widened when she saw what lay beyond that small gate. She gaped at the house for a few minutes. She couldn't believe Sasuke had lived in a house like this, it was still in decent condition, not regarding the dust that coated everything.

She slowly walked into the house, taking in everything around her. She couldn't believe she was actually in the Uchiha clan territory, she had never seen pictures of what it looked like in Tsunade's textbooks.

As soon as she opened the front door, her mood fell when she saw that it was completely empty. All except…what was that small white square in the far corner next to the broken window? She walked over to the small object which she soon found out was actually a photo. She gently blew the dust off of the picture and almost dropped it in shock when it revealed its history to her.

Her hands trembled a bit, her eyes welled up with tears. She whispered that name, "Sasuke-kun…"

The picture was of a young Sasuke, a younger version of Itatchi, a beautiful woman who had Sasuke's beautiful eyes, and a stern looking man who she guessed was Sasuke's father. _So this was Sasuke's family…_Sakura sympathized.

She noticed a door to the side of the building and she pushed it open without much effort. Expecting to see a backyard, she was shocked. Instead of a garden, was a beautiful lake, a dock leading to it. What shocked her even more was the thing sitting at the end of the dock, back facing her.

"Who dares enter the Uchiha clan's territory?" spoke the gray brown looking monster.

Sakura gasped a bit, undoubtedly recognizing that voice as the man that had left her a few years ago.

Her voice trembled softly, "Sasuke-kun…"

Sasuke almost turned around, mistaking that sweet, gentle voice for his mother's. _No. My mother is dead. I have no parents, _Sasuke remembered bitterly. Sasuke knew that voice, the voice of his teammate who had been crazily in love with him.

Before he could tell her to go away she spoke up a bit, "Sasuke-kun...happy...b-birthday..."

Sasuke was a bit shocked. The first greeting he got from her was happy birthday. He expected something more like, 'Please stay with me! I love you so much!' He, himself, had almost forgotten his own birthday. There were no parents to remind him of it. And what was the point of a birthday without family to celebrate it with? You just get older, one year at a time. Waiting for your death, one year at a time. In Sasuke's case, a birthday was meaningless. He remembered his mother used to always make him his favorite sweet sticky dango just right for him on his birthday. His father would finally acknowledge how proud he was to have _two _prodegy sons and make Sasuke smile. And Itatchi, well as much as Sasuke hated him now, he would actually take a day off ANBU to spend time playing ninja with Sasuke and teaching him new techniques. But they were all dead, not including Itatchi who killed the entire Uchiha clan. He loathed his own birthday, and yet this was the first thing the Haruno girl brought up.

"Sasuke-kun...p-please...don't go back to Orochimaru..." Sakura pleaded.

_Here she goes, _Sasuke thought.

"W-we miss you," Sakura's voice cracked.

_Her come the tears, _Sasuke commented in his mind.

Sakura said between her sobs, "Please…stay…w-with…"

"Sakura," Sasuke spoke. He turned his head to face Sakura, a smirk on his lips. He was slightly shocked when he saw how much she had changed. Her once childish face had matured so much. Her once-weak body was so strong and toned now. Her outfit wasn't that girly long dress anymore, she had a new red headband and her outfit matched her new maturity. Her whole new appearance almost made her look…hot. Sasuke mentally slapped himself, this was Sakura he was talking about! The girl that used to be so obsessed with him was now a hot, strong, mature kunoichi?

Of course the Haruno gasped a bit when she saw the monster Sasuke had turned into, she had never seen stage 2 of the cursed mark. His hair was ash gray, the whites of his eyes were now brown, this could only have been the work of that cursed mark Orochimaru planted on him in the Forest of Death so many years ago.

The unexpected reaction came from the Uchiha. He walked up to Sakura on the long dock slowly. Sakura watched in awe as the monster she loved walked up to her.

He put his callused hand on her tear streaked face, the smirk still on his face, "Are you scared?"

Sakura shook her head, her eyes wide open, staring at Sasuke's monstrous face.

Sasuke's free hand circled the girl's wrist and gave her a firm tug toward him. She stumbled a bit, still not believing what was happening to her. And in an instant Sasuke had tilted his head and closed his eyes while Sakura had done the same. It felt so good to finally lay her lips on the one she most loved.

The only time she even got close to kissing Sasuke like this was when Naruto had turned into Sasuke, which Sakura still never found out about. But she hadn't even gotten the luxury of kissing a fake Sasuke because Naruto had drinken expired milk for breakfast, causing him to run to the bathroom the moment before they were about to kiss. Sakura mistook this action for Sasuke being a "shy guy."

Their lips still molded together, Sasuke moved his hand from Sakura's cheek to wrap around the back of her waist.

Sakura almost wanted to pinch herself to see if she was dreaming. This was too unreal, Sasuke was supposed to hate her. But as unreal as it might've seemed, it felt so good to be in his arms for once.

He tugged her closer to her, causing her hands to unconsciously drift around his muscular back.

The sight was enough alone to make Ino want to skin Sakura alive. Although a while ago, Ino had come to the conclusion that Sakura needed Sasuke more than she did. Ino was beautiful and strong and Sakura was awful fragile…but that changed over the years – as Sasuke himself could see.

While they were tightly attached to each other, the curse resided and Sasuke looked like the beautiful man he was once again.

Sasuke really was handsome. His eyes were – in a beautiful way – sharp, but almost even a bit feminine. Altogether he had a special charm – in looks and in personality – that made all the girls around him swoon and faint.

Sakura was the one who pulled away from him – much to Sasuke's surprise.

He had completely not expected this. He expected her to still be completely infatuated with him to not want to ever lose a moment like this. Apparently that was not the case.

He looked down at her eyes, instead of joy and love, they were filled with something else…sadness…sorrow…and was that a hint of betrayal?

She was ripped between two causes. The love of her life was standing right in front of her. But on the other side, he was a traitor, he had run away from Konoha to side with Orochimaru.

"Sakura…" he spoke his name with a hint of concern.

He thought he knew why she was hesitant of this opportunity. He knew that he was indeed a traitor. Tsunade was even a bit reluctant to let him into Konoha, she only allowed this because it was indeed his birthday, and she hoped that maybe some time in Konoha would do him some good – maybe it would bring back memories causing him to want to part with Orochimaru.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke apologized plainly.

It was unusually for these words to be coming out of _Sasuke's _mouth. He was a man of pure arrogance. To be _apologizing, _even if he was wrong, was unusual for the Uchiha.

Sakura didn't so much as _look _into Sasuke's eyes, instead, she looked at the ground and continued to let the tears fall out of her eyes, not knowing what else she could choose.

Her duties of Konoha told her she should've just left this man and run away from the traitor. Her duties of Konoha told her to just forget about the Uchiha, to just rip that part of him out of her heart. But her heart told her otherwise, she wanted so much to stay with him – like that night he left, she had practically poured out her heart and soul for him, she would do anything for him to stay in Konoha with her.

Without warning, Sakura quickly wrapped her arms around Sasuke, burying her head into his chest and crying into his body.

She was torn between two causes and she just couldn't decide between the two. She loved and grew up in Konoha, but she loved Sasuke with more than her life, she didn't want to seem like a traitor herself to either of the two causes. She didn't want to think, she could only console herself by being wrapped in the arms of Sasuke's strong self.

Sasuke had seen Sakura cry many times when she was a Genin – he thought it was weak and immature, so he would ignore her and push her away – but now was completely different, she was crying _in _him, he was the only thing right now that could make her feel better; he didn't know how to react but to embrace her tighter.

She had actually cried many times on him while they were Genin, but only because he was hurt, and she somehow felt that crying ontop of his chest while he was hurt would make things better. For example, when he had tried to save Naruto from Haku in the Land of Mist. Sakura nearly stopped him from breathing when she cried for so long on top of him, thinking he was dead.

This was something different altogether and all Sasuke could do was repeat those words that rarely came out on his mouth, "I'm sorry."

Sakura knew she was causing Sasuke to worry about her. She didn't mean to, but she couldn't help it. It was too emotional to finally see Sasuke again, after all, how many years had it been since he left…

Sakura pulled away from him yet again and looked into his beautiful eyes, wiping the tears from her eyes, she handed the picture she had found on the house to him, "Happy birthday."

This was the least she could give to him as a so-called present. She hadn't bought anything of course, not aware that he would even be near Konoha.

Sasuke furrowed his brow as he looked at the familiar picture, "Where did you get this?"

He had remembered taking this picture with his family on that sunny day before Itatchi killed everyone. His aunt had taken it for them. It was such a happy day, his whole family gathered – his father and Itatchi had been arguing a lot lately, so it was good to finally be able to have to whole family together and smiling for a change.

"I found it on the floor in your house," Sakura said, her voice calming down a bit.

It amazed Sasuke at how observant this girl was. First she had found the house he had lived in all on her own, and now she was showing him a picture she had found that even he passed by. There was not a single bit of information on which house Sasuke had lived in in any textbook of Tsunade's – and that was what made Sakura's common knowledge so impressive.

Sakura took a good look, not at him or Itatchi in that picture, but his loving deceased parents.

True, his dad always seemed to love Itatchi more, but those moments when his dad would offer to teach Sasuke something new always made his heart soar with joy. Sasuke's mom was just flat out nice, she would always give Sasuke plenty of love when his father was out training with Itatchi. His parents…the parents that had died so many years ago…were still so precious to him.

He carefully slid the small photo into the pocket of his shorts before taking Sakura by the hand, and grunting, "Let's go for a walk."

Sasuke didn't need to think about his parents at a time like this. Sure they were precious, but it only caused more pain to think about them. He had to focus on the life he was living right now.

Sakura was a bit shocked at first – Uchiha Sasuke asking Haruno Sakura to take a walk together was unheard of – but nonetheless, she nodded and followed his lead.

She was too baffled by his offer to even wonder where he could've possibly been taking her. It was all the same to her though. As long as it was with her Sasuke-kun, she would be thoroughly content.

He walked at a not too slow but not too fast rate, leading her outside of his house and in the opposite direction of the exit to the Uchiha clan territory.

He wanted to give her a brief tour of the area he had grown up in. He suspected it was something she might've considered worth seeing since she was so into reading textbooks. The only slight worry the Uchiha had was if everything worth seeing had already crumbled into pieces.

The couple stopped at what seemed to look like a marketplace, which Sasuke explained about, "This was our local marketplace where we would buy fresh groceries everyday for meals."

The marketplace was huge and still standing, although the boxes and crates were all empty of anything edible. However, it was enough to impress Sakura. It must've been very sturdy to still be standing before her eyes.

They walked on and stopped at a large white building, "This was the library I studied at when I was young. It had some really good books I'm sure you would've liked."

Sakura had remembered when she was extremely young and learning at the Academy, she would always hear about a genius named Sasuke. It was not a surprise to her how Sasuke would be top in the class seeing that he always studied.

The last important structure Sasuke could find still standing was one that Sakura had already briefly passed earlier – the police station.

Sasuke almost skipped this old place, fearing it would bring back too many memories for him to handle. It had meant so much to him.

_FLASHBACK _

_Itatchi, being the loving brother that he was, picked Sasuke up from school and carried him on his back. Once arriving in their little village, they passed the police station. _

_"Itatchi!" the enthusiastic Sasuke said. _

_Itatchi stopped, "What is it?" _

_"Is this the place that dad works?" Sasuke pointed to the police station. _

_"Hai." _

_"What does dad do?" Sasuke asked. _

_"He protects people and fights off bad guys," Itatchi explained. _

_Sasuke looked amazed, "I want to work here when I grow up…just like dad!" _

_"That's good," Itatchi briefly commented before starting to walk again. _

_"Wait Itatchi! _

_Sasuke's older brother haulted, "Hn?" _

_"What's that big fan sign on the building? It looks like the same as the sign we wear on the back of our shirts," Sasuke said observantly. _

_"It's a paper fan that can be used to fan flames, making the flame hotter – since we are a clan of fire-jutsu users," Itatchi explained. _

_"Oh…" Sasuke took in the information like a sponge before going to sleep on his brother's back as Itatchi carried him back home. _

_END OF FLASHBACK _

Sakura thanked Sasuke for the tour, and insisted she should probably go home now, as much as she didn't want to.

Before Sakura could leave, Sasuke grabbed her wrist, "I don't have anywhere to stay."

Sakura paused for a moment before smiling, "You can stay at my house."

---

Sakura opened the front door to her house when her jaw almost dropped open. In her house were Kakashi Sensei and Naruto munching on some plain white cake. Just as Sakura almost dropped her jaw, Kakashi and Naruto dropped their forks when they saw who was accompanying Sakura.

Sasuke smirked, "Eating cake before the birthday boy?"

Naruto gaped at Sasuke for a few minutes. His childhood friend who he had considered as close as a brother had finally returned. Kakashi smiled under his mask, "Oops. Our mistake."

Sakura smiled as she brought Sasuke in and they sat down together next to Kakashi and Naruto. It was the first time in a long time Kakashi had smiled so much under his mask, seeing his student return. It was the first time in a long time Naruto had felt a huge relief. It was the first time in a long time Sakura's paper heart had been glued back together. It was the first time in a long time Sasuke had celebrated his birthday with people almost as close as family. This could've been the start of something good…very good – for both Team 7, and the growing bond between Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura looked at Sasuke who for the first time in a long time _smiled._ He slipped Sakura's warm hand into his own._ Yes, _Sakura smiled, _this could be the start of something VERY good._

**A/N: The end! Comments and reviews would be appreciated! Sorry, it was not a very good oneshot. But uh…I tried! Hope it wasn't too horribly OOC for you guys! If you like SasuSaku, I'm starting an AU SasuSaku fanfic soon called Morning for a story request! If you don't like SasuSaku…don't read it :D Love you guys!! **


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